Following the low season in the first quarter of 2013, many vendors from the non-iPad tablet camp will introduce new affordable models running on the Google Android platform in the second quarter. The second-generation Nexus 7 will also be launched at the end of the quarter.
According to Digitimes Research, global tablet shipments from brands in the second quarter of 2013 will be around 34.02 million units, growing 6.6% on quarter and 70.1% on year.
Non-iPad tablet shipments are expected to reach 17.52 million units, representing an on-quarter growth of 41%. However, the iPad has entered its low season and shipments are forecast to reach 16.5 million units in the second quarter.
Samsung Electronics and Lenovo, both of whom rely mostly on in-house production for their tablets, have been seeing their shares of shipments rise. As a result, Taiwan makers' share of global tablet shipments is expected to fall to 70%, accounting for about 23.77 million units, in the second quarter.
As more tablet brands adopt chipsets from MediaTek, the Taiwan-based IC designer's share of the market segment is expected to come in second behind Apple in the second quarter.
Digitimes Research predicts global tablet shipments by brand vendors will reach 157 million units in 2013, and Apple, Samsung, Amazon, and Google will be the top four firms. Samsung will show the strongest shipment growth.
Lenovo is expected to be in fifth place in 2013, moving up from seventh in 2012. Acer is likely to move up to sixth place from eighth in 2013, according to Digitimes Research.
